Netflix viewers will see an extended version of the final moments at Broad Hill Nursing Home, as Ricky Gervais's thoughts turn to Life on the Road and Special Correspondents.

Written by Emma Daly. The Radio Times, 30th December 2014

There are people who defend this mockumentary to the death, egged on by Ricky Gervais on his Twitter account, but it doesn't wash with me. It has amusing moments, but the show's always at its best when Gervais's insufferable Derek Noakes is off-screen. Lord knows why this performance earns Golden Globe nominations in the U.S, because it's a cringe-worthy mix of tic's and cartoonish body language. Derek's finale revolved around the wedding of saintly nursing home worker Hannah (Kerry Godliman) to her underwritten bin man boyfriend, which intersected with the expulsion of gross Kev (David Earl). Wisely, Derek's actual role was largely limited to a fairly sweet date with an unconvincingly adoring woman. One gets the sense Gervais, deep down, knows the multitude of ways this show and his character is flawed (he's not an idiot), but despite the fact the finale's a big improvement from the show's first series, it could never overcome the awkward mix of lowbrow gags and unearned sentimentality.

Ricky Gervais's inexplicably clunky "thing" about a kind man who works in a nursing home. I can find no comedy in it and it lacks the emotional truth required for a drama. It concluded last night with a 65-minute special featuring a wedding, a baby, an anecdote about a bird with a broken wing and an alcoholic's redemption, all laced with Gervais's emotion-flavoured dialogue that sounds as if it should spring from real feelings but doesn't.

Everyone looked embarrassed except Colin Hoult, one of the few good things in the last ever episode as Jeff, a self-contained side character, criminally underused. On the strength of his two or three lines, you could sense a whole life going on under the surface. It wasn't in the lines but the performance, both understated and totally eye-grabbing. I'd like to see a show called Jeff, but written by someone with less of a tin ear for sentiment.

If you're already a fan of Derek, there is plenty to enjoy in The Special. It's a downbeat, if cautiously optimistic, ending to a show that has always been preoccupied with life's darker aspects. It may prove too gloomy and peculiar to win Gervais any new fans or to impress his doubters, but that may be the point. After all, he stopped paying attention to popular opinion a long time ago.

The Derek and Night at the Museum star says, "for everyone who thinks my face brings joy, someone wants to punch the television, and I think that's an important thing"

Written by James Gill. The Radio Times, 20th December 2014

In the Derek Christmas special, the swansong for Ricky Gervais's contentious creation, pregnant Hannah is pushed to the limits of her patience by booze-addled sex case Kev and kicks him out of the home. But when he ends up in hospital, he's told that if he doesn't stop drinking he'll die. For a minute it's almost sad, then it's ruined by a skin-crawlingly sentimental montage. Fans of Derek may paint its detractors as twisted-up cynics, all black inside and incapable of emotion, but it's good riddance to this lazy, mawkish toss.

Ricky Gervais' Derek Noakes has taught us about more than just weird and wonderful knitwear.

Written by Claire Hodgson. The Mirror, 28th May 2014

It's the last in the series, and Derek's dad has taken a bit of a turn for the worse. Luckily, he's still able to confer sage sexual advice, which is handy as Derek has landed himself a date on the internet. Geoff nearly ruins everything with a poorly-timed practical joke but its reception, and a scuffle with Kev, makes him think that perhaps it's time to stop being an unremitting tool. By Derek standards, the usual all-consuming mawkishness is perhaps slightly underplayed for once. But only slightly.